Bauer made through it the first OK today. He's been putting one man every inning but no one has scored for the Astros yet. Tribe ahead 1=0 on a Santana sac fly after Bourn bunted a hit and Ramirez doubled him to third Top of the 4th, hpb and walk put two on for the Stros after 2 outs. Dominguez bats

3-1 Tribe win. Of course, Allen had to load the bases.

Fun to see the team still competitive as football season is coming.

Needless to say, not always the case over the years.

It's an impressive core of work by a young rotation. Not sure if they'll hold up for this year let alone the future. But Bauer is proving the skeptics, especially the Diamondbacks wrong. And Carrasco has perhaps matured into knowing how to use his wide variety of good pitches. And Kluber seems to be a smart enough guy to know to deal with some inevitable setbacks; and less likely to fall into Masterson's periodic [like season long] loss of command of his body.

I think we'll find out Masterson had physical issues this year.

If guys like Bauer, Carrasco, and of course Kluber end up being the revelations of this year, then not all was lost.

Playoff hopes still dim. But an interesting year at least.

Masterson has often been described as having trouble controlling his large frame, and has had alternating good years and bad years, and in the bad ones is ineffective vs Lefties. Kluber has the same success against everyone. Carrasco has a great arsenal of pitches; needed to get the head right and maybe he has?

Holy cow. Walters with another big hit. 2 run homer in 10th inning which ended up winning game!

Walters is sort of playing the Jason Giambi role; batting average below 200, just hits game winning homers.

Have I mentioned that I love this team!!!

Speaking of Giambi, he played a minor league game yesterday and struck out all 3 times at the plate. Midseason form, ready to join the Tribe next week.

LOL, what a coincidence that his "injury" is going away right around September 1.

Walters sure has a smooth swing, this guy could easily be a 30+ homer guy. If he brings his average up he might make Chisenhall expendable.

How good a 3B defender is he? We've not used him anywhere in the infield yet. I might prefer him in LF and give Urshela a look at 3rd if we want to tighten up the defense.

I have no problem with that, Urshela is supposed to be real good, we need defense, but I would play Walters at a number of different positions to have a look in September.

Here is another possible reason for bringing Urshela up (from Lets go Tribe):



Potential September call ups for the Indians

By Jason Lukehart

It is nearly September, when MLB rosters can be expanded to 40 players, allowing teams to get some extra arms in the bullpen, along with late-inning defensive upgrades, potential speed on the bases, and maybe a little thump on the end of the bench. It's also a time when teams often call up talented prospects to give them a proverbial cup of coffee in the big leagues and give the hometown fans a chance to see players expected to play a big role in the club's future.

For the Indians, no one better fits that bill than Francisco Lindor, the 20-year-old shortstop ranked among the top five or six prospects in baseball by most of the major outlets. Other talents many fans would like to see include third baseman Giovanny Urshela, who has had a breakout season at the plate, and outfielders Tyler Naquin, Carlos Moncrief, and James Ramsey, each of whom has their strengths, and could end up a starter in Cleveland at some point.




Moncrief is already on the 40-man roster, so no additional moves would have to be made in order to bring him up. The Indians also have an opening on the 40-man roster, which could be filled by any of these other guys without anything having to be moved off the roster. Urshela is probably the most pressing case, because the Indians will either put him on the 40-man roster or lose him to another team this offseason. The 40-man also has a couple names few fans would be heartbroken to see go, so there's probably room for them to add almost all of these players in September, but recent history says they won't.

Here is a full list of players who've made their MLB debut for the Indians during the last ten Septembers:


• 2013: Jose Ramirez
• 2012: Thomas Neal
• 2011: Nick Hagadone (P), Corey Kluber (P), and Zach Putnam (P)
• 2010: Vinnie Pestano (P)
• 2009: Michael Brantley, Carlos Carrasco (P), and Niuman Romero
• 2008: Scott Lewis (P), Rick Rundles (P)
• 2007: no one
• 2006: Kevin Kouzmanoff and Juan Lara (P)
• 2005: Ryan Garko
• 2004: Francisco Cruceta (P), Kyle Denney (P), Jake Robbins (P)



That's 17 players over the last 10 Septembers, 11 of them pitchers, 6 of them position players.